Fingerprint verification method and electronic device for performing the same

ABSTRACT

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a touchscreen display, a pressure sensor positioned to sense external pressure against the display, a fingerprint sensor positioned to detect a fingerprint on at least a portion of the display, a processor electrically coupled to the display, the pressure sensor, and the fingerprint sensor, and a memory electrically coupled to the processor, in which the memory stores at least one registered fingerprint. The processor is configured to sense pressure of a user&#39;s finger against the display using the pressure sensor, upon sensing of the pressure, activate the fingerprint sensor, detect a fingerprint of the finger using the fingerprint sensor, determine whether the detected fingerprint is matched with any of the at least one registered fingerprint, and perform a preselected function without further requiring authentication, when the detected fingerprint is matched with any of the at least one registered fingerprint.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation application of prior application Ser.No. 15/482,098, filed on Apr. 7, 2017, which claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 119(a) of a Korean patent application number 10-2016-0051236,filed on Apr. 27, 2016, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, theentire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference hereby in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to fingerprint verification methods andelectronic devices for performing the same.

BACKGROUND

Recently, as mobile communication technologies have been developed,electronic devices have been changed into structures for freelyaccessing wired/wireless communication networks while being easilycarried. For example, electronic devices, such as smartphones or tabletpersonal computers (PCs), may support not only telephone conversationsand message transceiving functions, but also various functions based onapplication programs which are installed in the electronic devices.

Since the electronic devices may support various functions related touser's daily life, the electronic devices may store user's privateinformation. Accordingly, the electronic devices may have varioussecurity ways, such as personal identification number (PIN)authentication, pattern authentication, and the like, against the lossof the electronic devices.

As one of the security ways, biometrics may be applied to the electronicdevices. In other words, the biometrics employs biological featuresincluding a fingerprint, a face, an iris, a vein, and the like. Amongthe biological features, the fingerprint of a person is generally uniqueand hardly changed over the lifetime of the person.

To verify the fingerprint, the electronic device may include afingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor may be disposed in aspecified area (e.g., a home key) of the electronic device. Accordingly,since a user mainly interacting with the electronic device through atouchscreen display has to alternately move a user's finger between thefingerprint sensor and the touchscreen display, the electronic devicemay be inefficiently operated.

In addition, generally, it is necessary to activate the electronicdevice prior to verifying the fingerprint. Accordingly, when theelectronic device is in an idle mode or a sleep mode, it is necessaryfor a user to press a home button or a power button prior to verifyingthe fingerprint and to switch the mode of the electronic device to anactive mode or a wake-up mode such that the fingerprint is verified.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure is to provide a method of activating a fingerprint sensorincluded in a display based on a pressure value sensed by a pressuresensor and of performing various functions depending on a fingerprintverification result from the fingerprint sensor, and an electronicdevice for performing the method.

In accordance with an aspect of this disclosure, an electronic device isprovided. The electronic device includes a housing including a firstsurface facing in a first direction, and a second surface facing in asecond direction opposite from the first direction, a touchscreendisplay interposed between the first and second surfaces, and exposedthrough the first surface, a pressure sensor interposed between thefirst and second surfaces, in which the pressure sensor is positioned tosense pressure of an external object against the touchscreen display, afingerprint sensor interposed between the first and second surfaces andpositioned to detect a fingerprint on at least a portion of thetouchscreen display, at least one processor positioned inside thehousing and electrically coupled to the touchscreen display, thepressure sensor, and the fingerprint sensor, and a memory positionedinside the housing and electrically coupled to the at least oneprocessor, in which the memory stores at least one registeredfingerprint. The memory may store instructions that, when executed,cause the at least one processor to sense pressure of a user's fingeragainst the touchscreen display using the pressure sensor, activate thefingerprint sensor upon sensing of the pressure, detect a fingerprint ofthe user's finger using the fingerprint sensor, determine whether thedetected fingerprint is matched with a registered fingerprint of the atleast one registered fingerprint, and perform a preselected functionwithout further requiring authentication, when the detected fingerprintis matched with any registered fingerprint of the at least oneregistered fingerprint.

In accordance with another aspect of this disclosure, an electronicdevice is provided. The electronic device includes a touchscreendisplay, a pressure sensor configured to sense pressure applied to thetouchscreen display by a user's finger, a fingerprint sensor configuredto detect a fingerprint of the user's finger, at least one processorelectrically coupled to the touchscreen display, the pressure sensor,and the fingerprint sensor, and a memory electrically coupled to the atleast one processor and positioned to store at least one registeredfingerprint. The processor may sense the pressure, which is applied tothe touchscreen display by the user's finger, using the pressure sensor,activate the fingerprint sensor when the sensed pressure is equal to orgreater than a designated value, detect the fingerprint of the user'sfinger using the fingerprint sensor, compare the detected fingerprintwith the at least one registered fingerprint, and perform a firstfunction when the detected fingerprint is matched with a registeredfingerprint of the at least one registered fingerprint, and perform asecond function different from the first function when the detectedfingerprint is not matched with any registered fingerprint of the atleast one registered fingerprint.

In accordance with another aspect of this disclosure, a fingerprintverification method is provided. The fingerprint verification methodincludes sensing pressure of a user's finger against a touchscreendisplay, activating a fingerprint sensor upon sensing of the pressure,detecting a fingerprint of the user's finger using the fingerprintsensor, determining whether the detected fingerprint is matched with aregistered fingerprint of at least one registered fingerprint stored inthe electronic device, and performing a preselected function withoutfurther requiring authentication, when the detected fingerprint ismatched with any registered fingerprint of the at least one registeredfingerprint.

In accordance with another aspect of this disclosure, a fingerprintverification method is provided. The fingerprint verification methodincludes sensing pressure, which is applied to a touchscreen display bya user's finger, using a pressure sensor, activating a fingerprintsensor when the sensed pressure is equal to or greater than a designatedvalue, detecting the fingerprint of the user's finger using thefingerprint sensor, comparing the detected fingerprint with at least oneregistered fingerprint stored in a memory, performing a first functionwhen the detected fingerprint is matched with a registered fingerprintof the at least one the registered fingerprint, and performing a secondfunction different from the first function when the detected fingerprintis not matched with any registered fingerprint of the at least oneregistered fingerprint.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic device according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a program module according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an outer appearance of an electronic device accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a stacked structure of a display according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6A illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6B illustrates a fingerprint verification method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7A illustrates a flowchart of a fingerprint verification methodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7B illustrates a flowchart of a fingerprint verification methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to a lockedscreen according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a finger verification method applied to a screen inan OFF state according an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to anapplication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to animage viewer application according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to aninstant message (IM) application according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to afinancial application according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to apayment application according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 15 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to astatus bar according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modification of the various embodiments describedherein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of thepresent disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functionsand constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

In this disclosure, the expressions “have”, “may have”, “include” and“comprise”, or “may include” and “may comprise” indicate existence ofcorresponding features (e.g., elements such as numeric values,functions, operations, or components) but do not exclude presence ofadditional features.

In this disclosure, the expressions “A or B”, “at least one of A or/andB”, or “one or more of A or/and B”, and the like may include any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items. For example,the term “A or B”, “at least one of A and B”, or “at least one of A orB” may refer to all of the case (1) where at least one A is included,the case (2) where at least one B is included, or the case (3) whereboth of at least one A and at least one B are included.

The terms, such as “first”, “second”, and the like used in thisdisclosure may be used to refer to different elements regardless of theorder and/or the priority of the elements and to distinguish therelevant elements from other elements, but do not limit the elements.For example, “a first user device” and “a second user device” indicatemutually different user devices regardless of the order or the priority.For example, without departing the scope of this disclosure, a firstelement may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a secondelement may be referred to as a first element.

It will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) isreferred to as being “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to”or “connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), it may bedirectly coupled with/to or connected to the other element or anintervening element (e.g., a third element) may be present. In contrast,when an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being“directly coupled with/to” or “directly connected to” another element(e.g., a second element), it should be understood that there are nointervening element (e.g., a third element).

According to the situation, the expression “configured to” used in thisdisclosure may be used as, for example, the expression “suitable for”,“having the capacity to”, “designed to”, “adapted to”, “made to”, or“capable of”. The term “configured to” must not mean only “specificallydesigned to” in hardware. Instead, the expression “a device configuredto” may mean that the device is “capable of” operating together withanother device or other components. For example, a “processor configuredto (or set to) perform A, B, and C” may mean a dedicated processor(e.g., an embedded processor) for performing a corresponding operationor a generic-purpose processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) oran application processor (AP)) which executes corresponding operationsby executing one or more software programs which are stored in a memorydevice.

Terms used in this disclosure are used to describe specified embodimentsand are not intended to limit the scope of another embodiment. All theterms used herein, which include technical or scientific terms, may havethe same meaning that is generally understood by those skilled in theart.

It will be further understood that terms, which are defined in adictionary and commonly used, should also be interpreted as beingcustomary in the relevant art and not in an idealized or overly formalunless expressly so defined in various embodiments of this disclosure.In some cases, even if certain terms are defined in the disclosure, theymay not be interpreted to exclude various embodiments of thisdisclosure.

An electronic device according to various embodiments of this disclosuremay include at least one of smartphones, tablet personal computers(PCs), mobile phones, video telephones, electronic book readers, desktopPCs, laptop PCs, netbook computers, workstations, servers, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), portable multimedia players (PMPs), MovingPicture Experts Group phase 1 or phase 2 (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) audiolayer-3 (MP3) players, mobile medical devices, cameras, or wearabledevices. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thewearable device may include at least one of an accessory type (e.g.,watches, rings, bracelets, anklets, necklaces, glasses, contact lens, orhead-mounted-devices (HMDs), a fabric or garment-integrated type (e.g.,an electronic apparel), a body-attached type (e.g., a skin pad ortattoos), or a bio-implantable type (e.g., an implantable circuit).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may be a home appliance. The home appliances mayinclude at least one of, for example, televisions (TVs), digitalversatile disc (DVD) players, audios, refrigerators, air conditioners,cleaners, ovens, microwave ovens, washing machines, air cleaners,set-top boxes, home automation control panels, security control panels,TV boxes (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™), gameconsoles (e.g., Xbox™ and Play Station™), electronic dictionaries,electronic keys, camcorders, electronic picture frames, and the like.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice may include at least one of various medical devices (e.g.,various portable medical measurement devices (e.g., a blood glucosemonitoring device, a heartbeat measuring device, a blood pressuremeasuring device, a body temperature measuring device, and the like), amagnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), a computed tomography (CT), scanners, and ultrasonic devices),navigation devices, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), eventdata recorders (EDRs), flight data recorders (FDRs), vehicleinfotainment devices, electronic equipment for vessels (e.g., navigationsystems and gyrocompasses), avionics, security devices, head units forvehicles, industrial or home robots, automatic teller's machines (ATMs),points of sales (POSs) of stores, or internet of things (e.g., lightbulbs, various sensors, electric or gas meters, sprinkler devices, firealarms, thermostats, street lamps, toasters, exercise equipment, hotwater tanks, heaters, boilers, and the like).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice may include at least one of parts of furniture orbuildings/structures, electronic boards, electronic signature receivingdevices, projectors, or various measuring instruments (e.g., watermeters, electricity meters, gas meters, or wave meters, and the like).According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device may be one of the above-described devices or acombination thereof. An electronic device according to an embodiment maybe a flexible electronic device. Furthermore, an electronic deviceaccording to an embodiment of this disclosure may not be limited to theabove-described electronic devices and may include other electronicdevices and new electronic devices according to the development oftechnologies.

Hereinafter, electronic devices according to various embodiments will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings. In thisdisclosure, the term “user” may refer to a person who uses an electronicdevice or may refer to a device (e.g., an artificial intelligenceelectronic device) that uses the electronic device.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment 100 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device 101, 102, or 104 or a server106 may be connected with each other over a network 162 or a short-rangecommunication 164. The electronic device 101 may include a bus 110, aprocessor 120, a memory 130, an input/output interface 150, a display160, and a communication interface 170. According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the electronic device 101 may not include atleast one of the above-described elements or may further include anotherelement(s).

For example, the bus 110 may interconnect the above-described elements110 to 170 and may include a circuit for conveying communications (e.g.,a control message and/or data) among the above-described elements.

The processor 120 may include one or more of a central processing unit(CPU), an application processor (AP), or a communication processor (CP).For example, the processor 120 may perform an arithmetic operation ordata processing associated with control and/or communication of at leastone of other element(s) of the electronic device 101.

The memory 130 may include a volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. Forexample, the memory 130 may store instructions or data associated withat least one other element(s) of the electronic device 101. According toan embodiment of the present disclosure, the memory 130 may storesoftware and/or a program 140. The program 140 may include, for example,a kernel 141, a middleware 143, an application programming interface(API) 145, and/or an application program (or “an application”) 147. Atleast a part of the kernel 141, the middleware 143, or the API 145 maybe referred to as an “operating system (OS)”.

For example, the kernel 141 may control or manage system resources(e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120, the memory 130, and the like)that are used to execute operations or functions of other programs(e.g., the middleware 143, the API 145, and the application program147). Furthermore, the kernel 141 may provide an interface that allowsthe middleware 143, the API 145, or the application program 147 toaccess discrete elements of the electronic device 101 so as to controlor manage system resources.

The middleware 143 may perform, for example, a mediation role such thatthe API 145 or the application program 147 communicates with the kernel141 to exchange data.

Furthermore, the middleware 143 may process one or more task requestsreceived from the application program 147 according to a priority. Forexample, the middleware 143 may assign the priority, which makes itpossible to use a system resource (e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120,the memory 130, or the like) of the electronic device 101, to at leastone of the application program 147. For example, the middleware 143 mayprocess the one or more task requests according to the priority assignedto the at least one, which makes it possible to perform scheduling orload balancing on the one or more task requests.

The API 145 may be, for example, an interface through which theapplication program 147 controls a function provided by the kernel 141or the middleware 143, and may include, for example, at least oneinterface or function (e.g., an instruction) for a file control, awindow control, image processing, a character control, or the like.

The input/output interface 150 may play a role of, for example, aninterface which transmits an instruction or data input from a user oranother external device, to other element(s) of the electronic device101. Furthermore, the input/output interface 150 may output aninstruction or data, received from another element(s) of the electronicdevice 101, to a user or another external device.

The display 160 may include, for example, a liquid crystal display(LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED)display, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) display, or anelectronic paper display. The display 160 may display, for example,various contents (e.g., a text, an image, a video, an icon, a symbol,and the like) to a user. The display 160 may include a touch screen andmay receive, for example, a touch, gesture, proximity, or hovering inputusing an electronic pen or a part of a user's body.

For example, the communication interface 170 may establish communicationbetween the electronic device 101 and an external device (e.g., thefirst external electronic device 102, the second external electronicdevice 104, or the server 106). For example, the communication interface170 may be connected to the network 162 over wireless communication orwired communication to communicate with the external device (e.g., thesecond external electronic device 104 or the server 106).

The wireless communication may include cellular communication employingat least one of, for example, long-term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced(LTE-A), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), wireless broadband(WiBro), global system for mobile communications (GSM), or the like, ascellular communication protocol. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the wireless communication may include, for example,at least one of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (BT), near field communication (NFC),magnetic stripe transmission (MST), radio frequency (RF), a body areanetwork (BAN), and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS).

The MST may generate a pulse in response to transmission data using anelectromagnetic signal, and the pulse may generate a magnetic fieldsignal. The electronic device 101 may transfer the magnetic field signalto point of sale (POS), and the POS may detect the magnetic field signalusing a MST reader. The POS may recover the data by converting thedetected magnetic field signal to an electrical signal.

The GNSS may include at least one of, for example, a global positioningsystem (GPS), a global navigation satellite system (Glonass), a Beidounavigation satellite system (Beidou), or a European globalsatellite-based navigation system (Galileo) based on an availableregion, a bandwidth, or the like. Hereinafter, in this disclosure, “GPS”and “GNSS” may be interchangeably used. The wired communication mayinclude at least one of, for example, a universal serial bus (USB), ahigh definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a recommended standard-232(RS-232), a plain old telephone service (POTS), or the like. The network162 may include at least one of telecommunications networks, forexample, a computer network (e.g., local area network (LAN) or wide areanetwork (WAN)), an internet, or a telephone network.

Each of the first and second external electronic devices 102 and 104 maybe a device of which the type is different from or the same as that ofthe electronic device 101. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the server 106 may include a group of one or more servers.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, all or aportion of operations performed in the electronic device 101 may beexecuted by another or plural electronic devices (e.g., the electronicdevices 102 and 104 or the server 106). According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, in the case where the electronic device 101executes any function or service automatically or in response to arequest, the electronic device 101 may not perform the function or theservice internally, but, alternatively additionally, it may request atleast a portion of a function associated with the electronic device 101at another device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104 or the server106). The other electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or104 or the server 106) may execute the requested function or additionalfunction and may transmit the execution result to the electronic device101. The electronic device 101 may provide the requested function orservice using the received result or may additionally process thereceived result to provide the requested function or service. To thisend, for example, cloud computing, distributed computing, orclient-server computing may be used.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, an electronic device 201 may include, for example,an entire part or a part of the electronic device 101 illustrated inFIG. 1. The electronic device 201 may include one or more processors(e.g., an application processor (AP)) 210, a communication module 220, asubscriber identification module (SIM) 229, a memory 230, a sensormodule 240, an input device 250, a display 260, an interface 270, anaudio module 280, a camera module 291, a power management module 295, abattery 296, an indicator 297, and a motor 298.

The processor 210 may operate, for example, an operating system (OS) oran application to control a plurality of hardware or software elementsconnected to the processor 210 and may process and compute a variety ofdata. For example, the processor 210 may be implemented with a system onchip (SoC). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theprocessor 210 may further include a graphic processing unit (GPU) and/oran image signal processor (ISP). The processor 210 may include at leasta part (e.g., a cellular module 221) of elements illustrated in FIG. 2.The processor 210 may load an instruction or data, which is receivedfrom at least one of other elements (e.g., a nonvolatile memory), into avolatile memory and process the loaded instruction or data. Theprocessor 210 may store a variety of data in the nonvolatile memory.

The communication module 220 may be configured the same as or similar tothe communication interface 170 of FIG. 1. The communication module 220may include the cellular module 221, a Wi-Fi module 222, a Bluetooth(BT) module 223, a GNSS module 224 (e.g., a GPS module, a Glonassmodule, a Beidou module, or a Galileo module), a near fieldcommunication (NFC) module 225, a MST module 226, and a radio frequency(RF) module 227.

The cellular module 221 may provide, for example, voice communication,video communication, a character service, an internet service, or thelike over a communication network. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the cellular module 221 may perform discriminationand authentication of the electronic device 201 within a communicationnetwork by using the subscriber identification module (e.g., asubscriber identity module (SIM) card) 229. According to an embodimentof the present disclosure, the cellular module 221 may perform at leasta portion of functions that the processor 210 provides. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the cellular module 221 mayinclude a communication processor (CP).

Each of the Wi-Fi module 222, the BT module 223, the GNSS module 224,the NFC module 225, or the MST module 226 may include a processor forprocessing data exchanged through a corresponding module, for example.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a part(e.g., two or more) of the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 222,the BT module 223, the GNSS module 224, the NFC module 225, or the MSTmodule 226 may be included within one integrated circuit (IC) or an ICpackage.

For example, the RF module 227 may transmit and receive a communicationsignal (e.g., an RF signal). For example, the RF module 227 may includea transceiver, a power amplifier module (PAM), a frequency filter, a lownoise amplifier (LNA), an antenna, or the like. According to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure, at least one of the cellularmodule 221, the Wi-Fi module 222, the BT module 223, the GNSS module224, the NFC module 225, or the MST module 226 may transmit and receivean RF signal through a separate RF module.

The subscriber identification module (SIM) 229 may include, for example,a card and/or embedded SIM that includes a subscriber identificationmodule and may include unique identify information (e.g., integratedcircuit card identifier (ICCID)) or subscriber information (e.g.,integrated mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)).

The memory 230 (e.g., the memory 130) may include an internal memory 232or an external memory 234. For example, the internal memory 232 mayinclude at least one of a volatile memory (e.g., a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), or thelike), a nonvolatile memory (e.g., a one-time programmable read onlymemory (OTPROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable and programmableROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), amask read only memory (ROM), a flash ROM, a flash memory (e.g., a NANDflash memory or a NOR flash memory), or the like), a hard drive, or asolid state drive (SSD).

The external memory 234 may further include a flash drive such ascompact flash (CF), secure digital (SD), micro secure digital(Micro-SD), mini secure digital (Mini-SD), extreme digital (xD), amultimedia card (MMC), a memory stick, or the like. The external memory234 may be operatively and/or physically connected to the electronicdevice 201 through various interfaces.

A security module 236 may be a module that includes a storage space ofwhich a security level is higher than that of the memory 230 and may bea circuit that guarantees safe data storage and a protected executionenvironment. The security module 236 may be implemented with a separatecircuit and may include a separate processor. For example, the securitymodule 236 may be in a smart chip or a secure digital (SD) card, whichis removable, or may include an embedded secure element (eSE) embeddedin a fixed chip of the electronic device 201. Furthermore, the securitymodule 236 may operate based on an operating system (OS) that isdifferent from the OS of the electronic device 201. For example, thesecurity module 236 may operate based on java card open platform (JCOP)OS.

The sensor module 240 may measure, for example, a physical quantity ormay detect an operation state of the electronic device 201. The sensormodule 240 may convert the measured or detected information to anelectric signal. For example, the sensor module 240 may include at leastone of a gesture sensor 240A, a gyro sensor 240B, a barometric pressuresensor 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, an acceleration sensor 240E, a gripsensor 240F, the proximity sensor 240G, a color sensor 240H (e.g.,red/green/blue (RGB) sensor), a biometric sensor 240I, atemperature/humidity sensor 240J, an illuminance sensor 240K, or anultra-violet (UV) sensor 240M. Although not illustrated, additionally orgenerally, the sensor module 240 may further include, for example, anE-nose sensor, an electromyography (EMG) sensor, an electroencephalogram(EEG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, an infrared (IR)sensor, an iris sensor, and/or a fingerprint sensor. The sensor module240 may further include a control circuit for controlling at least oneor more sensors included therein. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the electronic device 201 may further include aprocessor that is a part of the processor 210 or independent of theprocessor 210 and is configured to control the sensor module 240. Theprocessor may control the sensor module 240 while the processor 210remains at a sleep state.

The input device 250 may include, for example, a touch panel 252, a(digital) pen sensor 254, a key 256, or an ultrasonic input unit 258.For example, the touch panel 252 may use at least one of capacitive,resistive, infrared (IR) and ultrasonic detecting methods. Also, thetouch panel 252 may further include a control circuit. The touch panel252 may further include a tactile layer to provide a tactile reaction toa user.

The (digital) pen sensor 254 may be, for example, a part of a touchpanel or may include an additional sheet for recognition. The key 256may include, for example, a physical button, an optical key, or akeypad. The ultrasonic input device 258 may detect (or sense) anultrasonic signal, which is generated from an input device, through amicrophone (e.g., a microphone 288) and may check data corresponding tothe detected ultrasonic signal.

The display 260 (e.g., the display 160) may include a panel 262, ahologram device 264, or a projector 266. The panel 262 may be the sameas or similar to the display 160 illustrated in FIG. 1. The panel 262may be implemented, for example, to be flexible, transparent orwearable. The panel 262 and the touch panel 252 may be integrated into asingle module. The hologram device 264 may display a stereoscopic imagein a space using a light interference phenomenon. The projector 266 mayproject light onto a screen so as to display an image. For example, thescreen may be arranged in the inside or the outside of the electronicdevice 201. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thepanel 262 may include a pressure sensor (or force sensor) that measuresthe intensity of touch pressure by a user. The pressure sensor may beimplemented integrally with the touch panel 252, or may be implementedas at least one sensor separately from the touch panel 252. According toan embodiment of the present disclosure, the display 260 may furtherinclude a control circuit for controlling the panel 262, the hologramdevice 264, or the projector 266.

The interface 270 may include, for example, a high-definition multimediainterface (HDMI) 272, a universal serial bus (USB) 274, an opticalinterface 276, or a D-subminiature (D-sub) 278. The interface 270 may beincluded, for example, in the communication interface 170 illustrated inFIG. 1. Additionally, or generally, the interface 270 may include, forexample, a mobile high definition link (MHL) interface, a SDcard/multi-media card (MMC) interface, or an infrared (IR) dataassociation (IrDA) standard interface.

The audio module 280 may convert a sound and an electric signal in dualdirections. At least a part of the audio module 280 may be included, forexample, in the input/output interface 150 illustrated in FIG. 1. Theaudio module 280 may process, for example, sound information that isinput or output through a speaker 282, a receiver 284, an earphone 286,or the microphone 288.

For example, the camera module 291 may shoot a still image or a video.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the camera module291 may include at least one or more image sensors (e.g., a front sensoror a rear sensor), a lens, an image signal processor (ISP), or a flash(e.g., an LED or a xenon lamp).

The power management module 295 may manage, for example, power of theelectronic device 201. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC), a charger IC,or a battery or fuel gauge may be included in the power managementmodule 295. The PMIC may have a wired charging method and/or a wirelesscharging method. The wireless charging method may include, for example,a magnetic resonance method, a magnetic induction method or anelectromagnetic method and may further include an additional circuit,for example, a coil loop, a resonant circuit, a rectifier, or the like.The battery gauge may measure, for example, a remaining capacity of thebattery 296 and a voltage, current or temperature thereof while thebattery is charged. The battery 296 may include, for example, arechargeable battery and/or a solar battery.

The indicator 297 may display a specified state of the electronic device201 or a part thereof (e.g., the processor 210), such as a bootingstate, a message state, a charging state, and the like. The motor 298may convert an electrical signal into a mechanical vibration and maygenerate the following effects: vibration, haptic, and the like.Although not illustrated, a processing device (e.g., a GPU) forsupporting a mobile TV may be included in the electronic device 201. Theprocessing device for supporting the mobile TV may process media dataaccording to the standards of digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB),digital video broadcasting (DVB), MediaFlo™, or the like.

Each of the above-mentioned elements of the electronic device accordingto various embodiments described in this disclosure may be configuredwith one or more components, and the names of the elements may bechanged according to the type of the electronic device. In variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device may includeat least one of the above-mentioned elements, and some elements may beomitted or other additional elements may be added. Furthermore, some ofthe elements of the electronic device according to various embodimentsmay be combined with each other so as to form one entity, and thus thefunctions of the elements may be performed in the same manner as beforethe combination.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a program module according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a program module310 (e.g., the program 140) may include an operating system (OS) tocontrol resources associated with an electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 101), and/or diverse applications (e.g., theapplication program 147) driven on the OS. The OS may be, for example,Android™, iOS™, Windows™, Symbian®, Tizen™, or Samsung Bada OS™.

The program module 310 may include a kernel 320, a middleware 330, anapplication programming interface (API) 360, and/or an application 370.At least a portion of the program module 310 may be preloaded on anelectronic device or may be downloadable from an external electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104, the server 106, and thelike).

The kernel 320 (e.g., the kernel 141) may include, for example, a systemresource manager 321 or a device driver 323. The system resource manager321 may perform control, allocation, or retrieval of system resources.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the systemresource manager 321 may include a process managing unit, a memorymanaging unit, or a file system managing unit. The device driver 323 mayinclude, for example, a display driver, a camera driver, a Bluetooth(BT) driver, a shared memory driver, a USB driver, a keypad driver, aWi-Fi driver, an audio driver, or an inter-process communication (IPC)driver.

The middleware 330 may provide, for example, a function that theapplication 370 needs in common, or may provide diverse functions to theapplication 370 through the API 360 to allow the application 370 toefficiently use limited system resources of the electronic device.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware 330(e.g., the middleware 143) may include at least one of a runtime library335, an application manager 341, a window manager 342, a multimediamanager 343, a resource manager 344, a power manager 345, a databasemanager 346, a package manager 347, a connectivity manager 348, anotification manager 349, a location manager 350, a graphic manager 351,a security manager 352, or a payment manager 354.

The runtime library 335 may include, for example, a library module thatis used by a compiler to add a new function through a programminglanguage while the application 370 is being executed. The runtimelibrary 335 may perform input/output management, memory management, orcapacities about arithmetic functions.

The application manager 341 may manage, for example, a life cycle of atleast one application of the application 370. The window manager 342 maymanage a graphic user interface (GUI) resource that is used in a screen.The multimedia manager 343 may identify a format necessary for playingdiverse media files, and may perform encoding or decoding of media filesby using a codec suitable for the format. The resource manager 344 maymanage resources such as a storage space, memory, or source code of atleast one application of the application 370.

The power manager 345 may operate, for example, with a basicinput/output system (BIOS) to manage a battery or power, and may providepower information for an operation of an electronic device. The databasemanager 346 may generate, search for, or modify database that is to beused in at least one application of the application 370. The packagemanager 347 may install or update an application that is distributed inthe form of package file.

The connectivity manager 348 may manage, for example, wirelessconnection such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth (BT). The notification manager 349may display or notify an event such as arrival message, appointment, orproximity notification in a mode that does not disturb a user. Thelocation manager 350 may manage location information about an electronicdevice. The graphic manager 351 may manage a graphic effect that isprovided to a user, or manage a user interface relevant thereto. Thesecurity manager 352 may provide a general security function necessaryfor system security, user authentication, or the like. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, in the case where an electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic device 101) includes a telephony function,the middleware 330 may further include a telephony manager for managinga voice or video call function of the electronic device.

The middleware 330 may include a middleware module that combines diversefunctions of the above-described elements. The middleware 330 mayprovide a module specialized to each OS kind to provide differentiatedfunctions. Additionally, the middleware 330 may dynamically remove apart of the preexisting elements or may add new elements thereto.

The API 360 (e.g., the API 145) may be, for example, a set ofprogramming functions and may be provided with a configuration that isvariable depending on an OS. For example, in the case where an OS isAndroid™ or the iOS™, it may be permissible to provide one API set perplatform. In the case where the OS is Tizen™, it may be permissible toprovide two or more API sets per platform.

The application 370 (e.g., the application program 147) may include, forexample, one or more applications capable of providing functions for ahome 371, a dialer 372, a short message service (SMS)/multimediamessaging service (MMS) 373, an instant message (IM) 374, a browser 375,a camera 376, an alarm 377, a contact 378, a voice dial 379, an e-mail380, a calendar 381, a media player 382, an album 383, a timepiece orclock 384, and a payment 385 or for offering health care (e.g.,measuring an exercise quantity, blood sugar, or the like) or environmentinformation (e.g., information of barometric pressure, humidity,temperature, or the like).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application370 may include an application (hereinafter referred to as “informationexchanging application” for descriptive convenience) to supportinformation exchange between an electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevice 101) and an external electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevice 102 or 104). The information exchanging application may include,for example, a notification relay application for transmitting specifiedinformation to the external electronic device, or a device managementapplication for managing the external electronic device.

For example, the notification relay application may include a functionof transmitting notification information, which arise from otherapplications (e.g., applications for SMS/MMS, e-mail, health care, orenvironmental information), to an external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 102 or 104). Additionally, the information exchangingapplication may receive, for example, notification information from theexternal electronic device and provide the notification information to auser.

The device management application may manage (e.g., install, delete, orupdate), for example, at least one function (e.g., turn-on/turn-off ofan external electronic device itself (or a part of components) oradjustment of brightness (or resolution) of a display) of the externalelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104) whichcommunicates with the electronic device, an application running in theexternal electronic device, or a service (e.g., a call service, amessage service, or the like) provided from the external electronicdevice.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application370 may include an application (e.g., a health care application of amobile medical device) that is assigned in accordance with an attributeof an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or104). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theapplication 370 may include an application that is received from theexternal electronic device (e.g., the server 106 or the electronicdevice 102 or 104). According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the application 370 may include a preloaded application or athird-party application that is downloadable from a server. The names ofelements of the program module 310 according to the embodiment may bemodifiable depending on kinds of operating systems (OS's).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, at least aportion of the program module 310 may be implemented by software,firmware, hardware, or a combination of two or more thereof. At least aportion of the program module 310 may be implemented (e.g., executed),for example, by at least one processor (e.g., the processor 210 shown inFIG. 2). At least a portion of the program module 310 may include, forexample, modules, programs, routines, sets of instructions, processes,or the like for performing one or more functions.

FIG. 4 illustrates an outer appearance of an electronic device,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, an electronic device 401 may include a display 410and a housing 420 that form an outer appearance of the electronic device401. Various circuits or various modules, such as a processor, a memory,and the like, may be positioned inside the electronic device 401 (i.e.inside the housing 420).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the display410 may be disposed on a front surface of the electronic device 401. Forexample, the display 410 may be disposed at an inner part between afront surface (first surface) facing in an upper direction (firstdirection) 41 and a rear surface (second surface) facing in a lowerdirection (second direction) 42, and may be exposed to the outsidethrough the front surface.

For example, the display 410 may output content (e.g., a text, an image,a video, an icon, a widget, a symbol, or the like), or may receive atouch (including a touch, hovering, and a force touch) input from auser. To this end, the display 410 may include, for example, a coverglass, a display panel, a touch panel, a fingerprint sensor and/or apressure sensor. The cover glass, the display panel, the touch panel,the fingerprint sensor and/or the pressure sensor may have areascorresponding to each other (e.g., the substantially same area) and maybe disposed while being stacked on each other (see FIG. 5).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the display410 may be disposed on the front surface of the electronic device 401and may be expanded to at least one of side surfaces from the frontsurface. For example, the display 410 may be expanded in a left-sidedirection 43 and/or a right-side direction 44. As the display 410 isexpanded in the left-side direction 43 and/or the right-side direction44, the display 410 may be exposed to the outside through left and rightside surfaces as well as the front surface.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the housing420 may form at least a portion of the outer appearance of theelectronic device 401. For example, the housing 420 may include a frontsurface facing in the upper direction (first direction), a rear surface(second surface) opposite from the front surface, and side surfaceswhich surround at least a portion of a space between the front surface(first surface) and the rear surface (second surface). The side surfacesmay include a left-side surface facing in the left-side direction 43, aright-side surface facing in the right-side direction 44, an upper-sidesurface facing an upper-side direction 45, and a bottom-side surfacefacing in a bottom-side direction 46.

The housing 420 may be formed as a plastic injection molded product, aconductive material (e.g., metal), or the combination thereof to protectvarious internal elements of the electronic device 401 from externalimpact or external dust. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the housing 420 may be used to refer to outer surfaces ofthe elements. For example, the front surface of the housing 420 maycorrespond to the cover glass, the side surface of the housing 420 maycorrespond to a side-surface member of a rear case (or a rear plate),and the rear surface of the housing 420 may correspond to a back coverof a battery.

FIG. 5 illustrates a stacked structure of the display, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the stackedstructure of the display is illustrated in FIG. 5. For example, thestacked structure is applicable to the display 410 illustrated in FIG.4.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the stackedstructure of the display, a cover glass 510 may be disposed in aninternal space between the front surface (first surface) of the disposedelectronic device and the rear surface (second surface; not illustrated)of the housing. The cover glass 510 may be exposed through the frontsurface (first surface) of the electronic device and may transmit lightemitted from a display panel 540. As a user makes contact with a top ofthe cover glass 510 with a part (e.g., a finger) of a body, a “touch”(including contact using an electronic pen) may be made. The cover glass510 is formed of, for example, reinforced glass, reinforced plastic, aflexible polymer material, or the like, thereby protecting the displayand the electronic device having the display mounted thereon fromexternal impact. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the cover glass 510 may be referred to as a glass window ora cover window.

For example, a fingerprint sensor 520 may be disposed in the internalspace between the front surface (first surface) of the electronicdevice, in which the cover glass 510 is disposed, and the rear surface(second surface; not illustrated) of the housing of the electronicdevice. For example, the fingerprint sensor 520 may be interposedbetween the cover glass 510 and a touch sensor 530. The fingerprintsensor 520 may detect a fingerprint of a user's finger on at least aportion of the surface of the display (i.e. the surface of the coverglass).

For example, the touch sensor 530 may be disposed in the internal spacebetween the front surface (first surface) of the electronic device, inwhich the cover glass 510 is disposed, and the rear surface (secondsurface; not illustrated) of the housing of the electronic device. Inthe touch sensor 530, a specified physical quantity (e.g., a voltage,light intensity, a resistance, the quantity of an electrical charge, acapacitance, or the like) may be changed by the touch from a user. Forexample, the touch sensor 530 may include a capacitive touch panel, apressure-sensitive touch panel, an infrared (IR) touch panel, aresistive touch panel, or a piezo-touch panel. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the touch sensor 530 may bereferred to as various names, such as a touch panel and the like, basedon the implementation types of the touch sensor 530.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displaypanel 540 may output content (e.g., a text, an image, a video, an icon,a widget, a symbol, or the like). For example, the display panel 540 mayinclude a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a light emitting diode(LED) display panel, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) displaypanel, a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) display panel, or anelectronic paper display panel.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displaypanel 540 may be implemented integrally with the touch sensor (or thetouch panel) 530. In this case, the display panel 540 may be referred toas a touch screen panel (TSP) or a touchscreen display panel.

For example, a pressure sensor 550 may be disposed in the internal spacebetween the front surface (first surface) of the electronic device, inwhich the cover glass 510 is disposed, and the rear surface (secondsurface; not illustrated) of the housing of the electronic device. Thepressure sensor 550 may sense pressure (or force) of an external object(e.g., user's finger) against the cover glass 510. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the pressure sensor 550 mayinclude a first electrode 551, a second electrode 552, and/or adielectric layer 553. For example, the pressure sensor 550 may sense thepressure of a touch based on the capacitance between the first electrode551 and the second electrode 552, which is changed by the touch.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstelectrode 551 and/or the second electrode 552 may be transparently oropaquely implemented. For example, when the first electrode 551 and/orthe second electrode 552 is opaquely implemented, the first electrode551 and/or the second electrode 552 may be implemented with copper (Cu),silver (Ag), magnesium (Mg), titanium (Ti), or opaque graphene. Inaddition, when the first electrode 551 and/or the second electrode 552is transparently implemented, the first electrode 551 and/or the secondelectrode 552 may be implemented with an indium tin oxide (ITO), anindium zinc oxide (IZO), an Ag nanowire, a metal mesh, a transparentpolymer conductor, or transparent graphene.

For example, one of the first electrode 551 and the second electrode 552may be implemented with one metallic plate serving as a ground (GND),and a remaining one of the first electrode 551 and the second electrode552 may be formed in a pattern, in which a polygonal shape is repeated,using the above-described member (which is called “a self-capacitancetype”). Alternatively, one (e.g., a transmitter (Tx)) of the firstelectrode 551 and the second electrode 552 may be formed in a patternextending in the first direction, and a remaining one (e.g., a receiver(Rx)) of the first electrode 551 and the second electrode 552 may beformed in a pattern extending in the second direction crossing the firstdirection at a specific angle (e.g., a right angle) (which is called “amutual-capacitance type”).

The dielectric layer 553 may be implemented with a dielectric material,for example, silicone foam, a silicon membrane, an optical cleanadhesive (OCA), a sponge, rubber, or polymer (e.g., polycarbonate (PC),polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or the like.

When a haptic actuator 560 receives a touch (including one or more of atouch, hovering, and a force touch) input from a user, the hapticactuator 560 may provide haptic feedback (e.g., vibration) to the user.To this end, the haptic actuator 560 may include a piezoelectric memberand/or a vibration plate.

The above-described stacked structure of the display of FIG. 5 isprovided for an illustrative purpose, and may be variously modified. Forexample, the touch sensor 530 may be directly formed on a rear surfaceof the cover glass 510 (which is called “a cover glass-integrated touchpanel”). The touch sensor 530 may be formed separately from the coverglass 510 and may be inserted between the cover glass 510 and thedisplay panel 540 (which is called “an add-on touch panel”). The touchsensor 530 may be directly formed on the display panel 540 (which iscalled “an on-cell touch panel”). The touch sensor 530 may be includedin the display panel 540 (which is called “an in-cell touch panel”).According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the firstelectrode 551 of the pressure sensor 550 may be formed on a printedcircuit board (e.g., a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB)) and may beattached to the display panel 540. Alternatively, the first electrode551 of the pressure sensor 550 may be directly formed on a rear surfaceof the display panel 540. In addition, when the fingerprint sensor 520is opaquely implemented, the fingerprint sensor 520 may be disposed onthe rear surface of the display panel 540.

FIG. 6A illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6A, an electronic device may include a display panel610, a display driving integrated circuit (DDI) 615, a touch sensor 620,a touch sensor IC 625, a pressure sensor 630, a pressure sensor IC 635,a fingerprint sensor 640, a fingerprint sensor IC 645, a haptic actuator650, a memory 660, and a processor 670 (e.g., at least one processor).In the following description, the description of the configurationsdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 may be omitted.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the displaypanel 610 may receive an image drive signal from the DDI 615. Thedisplay panel 610 may display various contents (e.g., a text, a video,an icon, a symbol, and the like) based on the image drive signal. Inthis disclosure, the display panel 610 may be coupled to the touchsensor 620, the pressure sensor 630 and/or the fingerprint sensor 640while overlapping the touch sensor 620, the pressure sensor 630 and/orthe fingerprint sensor 640 (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 5). Forexample, when the display panel 610 is coupled to the touch sensor 620,the coupling structure may be referred to as “a touchscreen display”.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the DDI 615may supply the image drive signal, which corresponds to imageinformation received from the processor (host) 670, to the display panel610 at a specified frame rate. Although not illustrated in drawings,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the DDI 615may include a graphic random access memory (RAM), an interface module,an image processing unit, a multiplexer, a display timing controller(T-con), a source driver, a gate driver, and/or an oscillator.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in the touchsensor 620, a specified physical quantity (e.g., a voltage, lightintensity, a resistance, the quantity of an electrical charge, acapacitance, or the like) may be changed by the touch from a user.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the touch sensor620 may be provided while overlapping with the display panel 610.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the touchsensor IC 625 may sense the change of the physical quantity in the touchsensor 620 and may calculate a position (X, Y), in which the touch ismade, based on the change of the physical quantity (e.g., a voltage, aresistance, a capacitance, or the like). The calculated position(coordinates) may be provided to the processor 670.

For example, when a part (e.g., a finger) of a user's body, a stylus (akind of an electronic pen), or the like makes contact with glass (notillustrated) of the display, a coupling voltage formed by a transmitter(Tx) and a receiver (Rx) included in the touch sensor 620 may bechanged. For example, the change of the coupling voltage may be sensedby the touch sensor IC 625, and the touch sensor IC 625 may transfer thecoordinates of the position, in which the touch is made, to theprocessor 670. The processor 670 may acquire data on the coordinates ofthe position as an event relating to a user input.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the touchsensor IC 625 may be referred to as a touch IC, a touch screen IC, atouch controller, or a touch screen controller IC. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, in the electronic device withoutthe touch sensor IC 625, the processor 670 may operate as the touchsensor IC 625. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the touch sensor IC 625 and the processor 670 may beimplemented in the form of one component (e.g., one-chip).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the pressuresensor 630 may sense pressure (or force). For example, the pressuresensor 630 may sense the pressure applied to the touchscreen display bya user's finger. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure,in the pressure sensor 630, the physical quantity (e.g., capacitance)between a transmitter (Tx) (e.g., the first electrode 551 of FIG. 5) anda receiver (Rx) (e.g., the second electrode 552 of FIG. 5) may bechanged by the touch.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the pressuresensor IC 635 may sense the change of the physical quantity (e.g., acapacitance or the like) in the pressure sensor 630, and may calculatethe pressure Z applied by the touch input from the user based on thechange of the physical quantity. The value of the pressure may beprovided to the processor 670 together with the position (X, Y) in whichthe touch is made.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the pressuresensor IC 635 may be referred to as a force touch controller, a forcesensor IC, or a pressure panel IC. In addition, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the pressure sensor IC 635 andthe touch sensor IC 625 may be implemented in the form of one component(e.g., one-chip).

For example, the fingerprint sensor 640 has an area (e.g., thesubstantially same area) corresponding to the display panel 610, or anarea corresponding to at least a portion of the display panel 610. Thefingerprint sensor 640 may detect the fingerprint of the user's finger.For example, the fingerprint sensor 640 may capture an image of thefingerprint of the user's finger. The fingerprint sensor 640 may beclassified into an optical fingerprint sensor, an ultrasonic fingerprintsensor, and a capacitive fingerprint sensor according to a physicalquantity used to capture the image of the fingerprint. Alternatively,the fingerprint sensor 640 may include an area fingerprint sensor torecognize a fingerprint in the unit of a plane.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thefingerprint sensor IC 645 may drive the fingerprint sensor 640, and mayscan at least a portion of the area of the fingerprint sensor 640. Thefingerprint sensor IC 645 may capture the image of the fingerprintthrough the scanning. For example, the fingerprint sensor IC 645 mayextract a unique feature of the fingerprint from the image of thefingerprint and may provide the extracted feature, which serves asfingerprint information, to the processor 670. For example, theextracted features, that is, fingerprint minutiae may include variousfingerprint minutiae, such as a ridge ending, a crossover, abifurcation, a pore, and the like, included in the fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the hapticactuator 650 may provide haptic feedback (e.g., vibration) to a useraccording to a control instruction of the processor 670. For example,the haptic actuator 650 may provide the haptic feedback to the user,when a touch input (including a touch, hovering, and a force touch) isreceived from the user.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the memory660 may store an instruction or data associated with the operation of acomponent included in an electronic device 601. For example, the memory660 may store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor 670to perform various operations (see FIGS. 7A and 7B) disclosed in thisdisclosure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the memory 660 maystore data (e.g., a fingerprint template) on at least one registeredfingerprint (an enrolled fingerprint or a reference fingerprint) whichis enrolled in advance by an authorized user.

For example, the processor 670 is electrically coupled to elements 610to 660 which are included in the electronic device 601. Accordingly, theprocessor 670 may perform operations relating to the control and/or thecommunication of the elements included in the electronic device 601 ormay perform data processing for the elements included in the electronicdevice 601.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 670may sense the pressure of the finger against the touchscreen displayusing the pressure sensor 630. The processor 670 may activate thefingerprint sensor 640 when the sensed pressure is equal to or greaterthan a designated value. In other words, when the touch (i.e. forcetouch) is made with the pressure having the designated value or more,the processor 670 may trigger the fingerprint sensor 640 to activate thefingerprint sensor 640.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 670 may sense the pressure while the display panel 610 isturned on or off. The processor 670 may activate the fingerprint sensor640 based on the pressure.

For example, the processor 670 may activate the fingerprint sensor 640when sensing the pressure having the designated value or more, while thedisplay panel 610 is turned off. For example, the display panel 610 maybe turned off when the electronic device 601 operates in an idle mode ora sleep mode.

Alternatively, the processor 670 may activate the fingerprint sensor 640when sensing the pressure having the designated value or more, while thedisplay panel 610 is turned on. For example, the display panel 610 mayoutput a locked screen, a home screen, or an application executionscreen, while the display panel 610 is turned on.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 670may detect the fingerprint of the finger using the activated fingerprintsensor 640. For example, the processor 670 may scan a specified areaaround a position, to which the touch pressure is applied, on thedisplay using the fingerprint sensor 640. Thereafter, the processor 670may detect the fingerprint within the specified area.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 670may compare the detected fingerprint with a registered fingerprint(e.g., fingerprint template) stored in the memory 660. The processor 670may compare the detected fingerprint using the fingerprint sensor 640with the registered fingerprint (e.g., fingerprint template) stored inthe memory 660, and may determine the fingerprint of the user's fingeras being verified when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the processor 670 may further perform a specified imagepre-processing operation such that the comparison operation is performedwith reliability.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 670may perform a first function when the fingerprint detected using thefingerprint sensor 640 is matched with the registered fingerprint. Whenthe detected fingerprint is not matched with the registered fingerprint,the processor 670 may perform a second function different from the firstfunction.

For example, when the fingerprint is detected while the display panel610 is turned off, and when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint, the processor 670 may switch the state thedisplay panel 610 to an ON state (one example of the first function). Inthis case, for example, the processor 670 may output an unlocked homescreen, an application screen under execution, or a screen includingspecified information to the display panel 610.

Alternatively, when the fingerprint is detected while the display panel610 is turned off, and when the detected fingerprint is not matched withthe registered fingerprint, the processor 670 may maintain the displaypanel 610 in an OFF state (one example of the second function). Inaddition, when the detected fingerprint is not matched with theregistered fingerprint, the processor 670 may temporarily output awarning that the detected fingerprint is not matched with the registeredfingerprint, and may maintain the display panel 610 in the OFF state(see FIG. 9).

In addition, when the fingerprint is detected while a specific lockedscreen is output to the display panel 610 (i.e. while the display panel610 is turned on), and when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint, the processor 670 may output the unlocked screento the display panel 610 (one example of the first function). Forexample, the unlocked screen may include the home screen or theapplication screen under execution.

Alternatively, when the fingerprint is detected while the locked screenis output to the display panel 610 (i.e. while the display panel 610 isturned on), and when the detected fingerprint is not matched with theregistered fingerprint, the processor 670 may maintain the locked screenin a present state (one example of a second function). In addition, whenthe detected fingerprint is not matched with the registered fingerprint,the processor 670 may temporarily output a warning that the detectedfingerprint is not matched with the registered fingerprint, and maymaintain the locked screen in a present state (see FIG. 8).

Alternatively, a screen including at least one object associated with anapplication may be output to the display panel 610 (i.e. while thedisplay panel 610 is turned on). The application may include at least apayment application, a financial application, or an image viewerapplication.

For example, a touch having a designated pressure value or more may bemade on the touchscreen display. In this case, a position to which thetouch having the designated pressure value or more is applied maycorrespond to a position to which the object associated with theapplication is output (displayed). In other words, a user may select theobject associated with the application by the touch having thedesignated pressure value or more. When the touch having the designatedpressure value or more is applied to the object, the processor 670 mayactivate the fingerprint sensor 640 and may detect the fingerprint usingthe activated fingerprint sensor 640.

When the detected fingerprint is matched with the registeredfingerprint, the processor 670 may withdraw a security policy set by theselected application (one example of a first function). According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 670 mayoutput the execution screen of an application, in which the securitypolicy is withdrawn, to the display panel 610.

Alternatively, when the detected fingerprint is not matched with theregistered fingerprint, the processor 670 may maintain the securitypolicy, which is set, by the application (one example of the secondfunction). For example, when the security policy is maintained, theexecution screen of an application, in which the security policy ismaintained, may be output to the display panel 610, or the applicationmay not be executed (see FIGS. 10 to 14).

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor670 may sense the pressure of a user's finger against the touchscreendisplay using the pressure sensor 630. When the processor 670 senses thepressure of the user's finger, the processor 670 may activate thefingerprint sensor 640 and may detect the fingerprint of the user'sfinger using the fingerprint sensor 640. Thereafter, the processor 670determines whether the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint stored in the memory 660. When the detectedfingerprint is matched with the registered fingerprint, a preselectedfunction (the first function) may be performed without further requiringauthentication. For example, when pressure is applied to an object(e.g., an icon or the like) of an application output to the touchscreendisplay by the user's finger, the processor 670 may perform the functionof the application without further requiring authentication.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 670 may sense the pressure of the user's finger against thetouchscreen display using the pressure sensor 630, while the touchscreendisplay (or the display panel 610 of the touchscreen display) is turnedoff, or while the touchscreen display is turned on.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 670 may sense the pressure of the user's finger against thetouchscreen display regardless of the ON/OFF state of the display panel610, while the electronic device 601 is in a locked state. While theelectronic device 601 is in the locked state, the processor 670 maysense the pressure of the user's finger. When the pressure has thedesignated value or more, the processor 670 may detect the fingerprintof the user's finger using the fingerprint sensor 640. When the detectedfingerprint is matched with the registered fingerprint, the processor670 may unlock the locked state of the electronic device 601.

As described above, the processor 670 of the electronic device 601 mayverify the fingerprint of the user's finger when the pressure of theuser's finger against the touchscreen display is equal to or greaterthan the designated value. The processor 670 may perform the firstfunction or the second function depending on whether the fingerprint ofthe user's finger is verified. However, the processor 670 may performvarious functions in addition to the first function and the secondfunction.

For example, the processor 670 may set three pressure ranges based on adesignated pressure value P1 (e.g., P_(thres) in FIG. 6B) for activatingthe fingerprint sensor 640 and a pressure value P2 greater than thedesignated pressure value P1. In other words, when the pressure P of theuser's finger against the touchscreen display is equal to or greaterthan the designated pressure value P1, and less than the pressure valueP2 (P1≤P<P2), the processor 670 may be configured to perform the firstfunction (e.g., a function of outputting an unlocked home screen) afterthe processor 670 successfully verifies the fingerprint. Meanwhile, whenthe pressure P of the user's finger is equal to or greater than thepressure value P2 (P2≤P), the processor 670 may be configured to performa third function (e.g., a function of outputting the execution screen ofa specified application) after the processor 670 successfully verifiesthe fingerprint. In addition, when the pressure P of the user's fingeris equal to or greater than the pressure value P1 (P1≤P), and when theprocessor 670 fails to verify the fingerprint, the processor 670 may beconfigured to perform the second function (e.g., a function ofoutputting a notice of verification failure).

The above-described operations of the processor 670 are provided for theillustrative purpose, and this disclosure is not limited thereto. Inother words, it may be understood by those skilled in the art thatoperations of a processor described in different portions of thisdisclosure serve as the operations of the processor 670. In thisdisclosure, it may be understood by those skilled in the art that atleast a portion of operations, which are described as operations of an“electronic device”, serves as the operations of the processor 670.

FIG. 6B illustrates a fingerprint verification method according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 601, which performs the fingerprint verification method, isillustrated in FIG. 6B. For example, the electronic device 601 may sensethe pressure of a touch 6, which is applied to a touchscreen display 61by a user's finger, using a pressure sensor which is disposed whileoverlapping a rear surface or a surface of a touchscreen display 61(e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 5). The processor 670 may activate afingerprint sensor when the sensed pressure is equal to or greater thana designated value, and may detect the fingerprint of the user's fingerusing the activated fingerprint sensor.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor ofthe electronic device 601 may scan a specified area of a touchscreendisplay 61, including a position, to which a touch pressure is applied,using the fingerprint sensor. For example, the processor may scan aspecified area F including a position, to which a touch pressure isapplied (i.e. a position in which the touch 6 is made), using thefingerprint sensor. Thereafter, the processor may detect a fingerprintwithin the specified area F. In other words, the processor of theelectronic device 601 may specify the center of a contact surface withthe user's finger when the user's finger makes the touch 6 with thepressure having the designated value or more at any point of thetouchscreen display. The processor 670 of the electronic device 601 mayscan for the fingerprint within the specified area F designated as thecenter (the specified area may have the size corresponding to 1.5 timesthe size of a home button disposed at the electronic device 601).Accordingly, the electronic device 601 needs not to scan the entire areaof the touchscreen display 61.

Meanwhile, referring to a curve 602, a graph, which represents a touchinput as a function of time, is illustrated. For example, the electronicdevice 601 may detect the fingerprint of a user's finger for timedurations (e.g., fingerprint verification durations t1 to t4) of thedesignated pressure value P_(thres) or more.

For example, for the time durations of ‘0’ and t1, the user may makecontact with the touchscreen display 61 (or may make a touch to thetouchscreen display), and may increase a pressure value against thetouchscreen display 61.

For example, when the touch pressure reaches the designated pressurevalue P_(thres) at the time point of t1, the processor of the electronicdevice 601 may activate the specified area F of the fingerprint sensoraround the position to which the touch pressure is applied by the user'sfinger. Alternatively, the processor 670 of the electronic device 601may activate the entire area of the fingerprint sensor (e.g., an areacorresponding to the entire area of the touchscreen display 61).

For example, the processor of the electronic device 601 may scan thespecified area F using the fingerprint sensor for the time duration oft1 and t2. After the processor 670 of the electronic device 601 finishesthe scanning of the specified area F, the processor of the electronicdevice 601 may capture an image of the fingerprint using the fingerprintsensor. In other words, the processor may capture the image of thefingerprint from the fingerprint sensor through the fingerprint sensorIC.

When the image of the fingerprint is captured, the processor may extractfingerprint minutiae of the fingerprint from the image of thefingerprint, may compare the fingerprint with a registered fingerprintbased on the extracted features, and may determine whether thefingerprint is matched with the registered fingerprint, for the timedurations of t3 and t4.

FIG. 7A illustrates a flowchart of the fingerprint verification methodaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7A, the fingerprint verification method according toan embodiment may include operations 701 to 709. For example, theoperations 701 to 709 may be performed by the electronic device 601 ofFIGS. 6A and 6B. Each of the operations 701 to 709 may be implemented,for example, by instructions (commands) which may be executed (orcarried out) by the processor 670 of the electronic device 601. Theinstructions may be stored, for example, in computer recording medium orthe memory 660 of the electronic device 601 illustrated in FIG. 2. Inthe following description of the operations 701 to 709, the referencenumerals of FIGS. 6A and 6B will be used.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation701, the electronic device 601 (or the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may sense the pressure of a user's finger against thetouchscreen display (including at least one of the display panel 610,the touch sensor 620, the pressure sensor 630, and/or the fingerprintsensor 640; see FIG. 5) using the pressure sensor 630.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 601 (the processor 670 of the electronic device 601) may sensethe pressure applied by the user's finger not only while the displaypanel 610 of the touchscreen display is turned on, but also while only aportion of the display panel 610 is turned on (e.g., “always-on” mode)or the entire portion of the display panel 610 is turned off. Accordingto another embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 670 maysense the pressure applied by the user's finger even while theelectronic device 601 is in a locked state.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation703, the electronic device 601 (or the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may activate the fingerprint sensor 640 upon sensing of thepressure applied by the user's finger. For example, the processor 670may activate only the specified area (e.g., “F” illustrated in FIG. 6B)around the position, to which the touch pressure is applied, in theentire area of the fingerprint sensor 640.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation705, the electronic device 601 (or the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may detect the fingerprint of the user's finger using thefingerprint sensor 640. For example, the processor 670 may scan only thespecified area (e.g., “F” illustrated in FIG. 6B) around the position,to which the touch pressure is applied, and may detect the fingerprintwithin the specified area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation707, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may determine whether the detected fingerprint is matchedwith a registered fingerprint (e.g., at least one registeredfingerprint) stored in the memory 660.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation709, the electronic device 601 (or the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may perform a preselected function without further requiringauthentication when the fingerprint detected in the operation 705 ismatched with the registered fingerprint stored in the memory 660. Forexample, when pressure is applied to an object of an application, whichis output on the touchscreen display, by the user's finger, theprocessor 670 may perform a function (preselected function and oneexample of a first function) of the application without furtherrequiring authentication. In addition, the preselected function mayinclude, for example, a function of unlocking the electronic device 601.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation709, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may make the activated fingerprint sensor 640 inactive orturn-off, and may perform the preselected function without furtherrequiring authentication when the detected fingerprint is matched withthe registered fingerprint.

FIG. 7B illustrates a flowchart of the fingerprint verification methodaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7B, the fingerprint verification method according toan embodiment may include operations 702 to 714. For example, operations702 to 714 may be performed by the electronic device 601 of FIGS. 6A and6B. Each of operations 702 to 714 may be implemented, for example, byinstructions (commands) which may be executed (or carried out) by theprocessor 670 of the electronic device 601. The instructions may bestored, for example, in computer recording medium or the memory 660 ofthe electronic device 601 illustrated in FIG. 2. In the followingdescription of the operations 702 to 714, the reference numerals ofFIGS. 6A and 6B will be used.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation702, the electronic device 601 (or the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may sense the pressure of a user's finger against thetouchscreen display (including at least one of the display panel 610,the touch sensor 620, the pressure sensor 630, and the fingerprintsensor 640; see FIG. 5) by using the pressure sensor 630.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 601 (the processor 670 of the electronic device 601) may sensethe pressure applied by the user's finger not only while the displaypanel 610 of the touchscreen display is turned on, but also while thedisplay panel 610 of the touchscreen display is turned off. When thedisplay panel 610 is turned on, a locked screen, a home screen, or anapplication execution screen may be output to the display panel 610. Forexample, when the home screen is output, the position, to which thepressure is applied, on the touchscreen display may correspond to aposition, to which an object associated with a specified application isoutput, on the touchscreen display.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation704, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may activate the fingerprint sensor 640 when the pressuresensed in operation 702 is equal to or greater than a designated value.When a force touch is received from a user, the fingerprint sensor 640and the fingerprint sensor IC 645 may be triggered to operate.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronicdevice 601 (the processor 670 of the electronic device 601) may activateonly the specified area (e.g., F illustrated in FIG. 6B) around theposition, to which the touch pressure is applied, in the entire area ofthe fingerprint sensor 640 (corresponding to the entire area of thetouchscreen display).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation706, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may detect the fingerprint of the user's finger using theactivated fingerprint sensor 640. The detecting of the fingerprint mayinclude scanning a specified area (e.g., F illustrated in FIG. 6B)around a position to which the touch pressure is applied and detectingthe fingerprint within the specified area.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation708, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may perform an operation of comparing the fingerprintdetected in operation 706 with the registered fingerprint. For example,the fingerprint detected in operation 706 may be compared with theregistered fingerprint stored in the memory 660 by the processor 670 ofthe electronic device 601.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, in operation710, the electronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronicdevice 601) may determine whether the fingerprint compared in theoperation 708 is matched with the registered fingerprint. When thedetected fingerprint is matched with the registered fingerprintaccording to the determination result in operation 710, the electronicdevice 601 (the processor 670 of the electronic device 601) may performa first function, which is preselected, in operation 712.

For example, in the case that the state of the touchscreen display is anOFF state when operation 702 is performed, the first function mayinclude a function of switching the state of the touchscreen display toan ON state. In this case, the first function may further include afunction of outputting an unlocked screen to the touchscreen display.

Alternatively, in the case that the state of the touchscreen display isthe ON state and the locked screen is output to the touchscreen displaywhen operation 702 is performed, the first function may include afunction of outputting the unlocked screen to the touchscreen display.

Alternatively, when operation 702 is performed, the state of thetouchscreen display may be the ON state, the home screen may be outputto the touchscreen display, and a position, to which the pressure isapplied by the user's finger, on the touchscreen display may correspondto a position, to which an object associated with a specifiedapplication is output, on the touchscreen display. In this case, thefirst function may include a function of withdrawing a security policyset by the specified application. The first function may further includea function of outputting a screen, in which the security policy iswithdrawn, to the touchscreen display.

When the detected fingerprint is not matched with the registeredfingerprint according to the determination result in operation 710, theelectronic device 601 (the processor 670 of the electronic device 601)may perform a second function in operation 714. For example, theprocessor 670 of the electronic device 601 may perform the secondfunction different from the first function.

For example, in the case that the state of the touchscreen display isthe OFF state when operation 702 is performed, the second function mayinclude a function of maintaining the touchscreen display in the OFFstate.

Alternatively, in the case that the state of the touchscreen display isthe ON state and the locked screen is output to the touchscreen displaywhen operation 702 is performed, the second function may include afunction of maintaining the locked screen.

Alternatively, when operation 702 is performed, the state of thetouchscreen display may be the ON state, the home screen may be outputto the touchscreen display, and a position, to which the pressure isapplied by the user's finger, on the touchscreen display may correspondto a position, to which the object associated with the specifiedapplication is output, on the touchscreen display. In this case, thesecond function may include a function of maintaining a security policyset by the specified application. According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the second function may further include afunction of outputting a screen, in which the security policy ismaintained, to the touchscreen display.

According to an embodiment of this disclosure, when the touch (forcetouch) having a designated pressure value or more is sensed by thepressure sensor, the electronic device 601 may activate the fingerprintsensor and may verify the fingerprint of the user's finger which makes atouch. Accordingly, various operating processes performed to verify afingerprint may be reduced according to the related art.

Hereinafter, an electronic device employing a fingerprint verificationmethod according to various embodiments will be described with referenceto FIGS. 8 to 15. This disclosure is not limited to the fingerprintverification method described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 15.

FIG. 8 illustrates the fingerprint verification method applied to thelocked screen according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 8, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a locked screen 811 may be output to a (touch screen)display 810 of an electronic device 801. In other words, a status barand a clock may be displayed on the locked screen 811.

For example, the electronic device 801 may receive a touch (force touch)8 having a designated pressure or more against any area of the display810. When the force touch 8 is made on the display 810, the electronicdevice 801 may activate a fingerprint sensor based on the pressure ofthe force touch 8. The electronic device 801 may detect the fingerprintof the finger, which makes the force touch 8, using the activatedfingerprint sensor. The electronic device 801 may compare the detectedfingerprint with a registered fingerprint stored in a memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 801 may output a home screen 812, whichis unlocked, to the display 810 (one example of a first function).According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, when thefingerprint is successfully verified, the electronic device 801 maydisplay a screen resulting from an application under execution insteadof the home screen 812.

Alternatively, when the detected fingerprint is not matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint fails to be verified),the electronic device 801 may continuously output a locked screen 811(one example of a second function). According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, theelectronic device 801 may temporarily output a warning that the detectedfingerprint is not matched with the registered fingerprint.

FIG. 9 illustrates the finger verification method applied to a screen inan OFF state according an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, any content may not be displayed on a (touchscreen) display910 of an electronic device 901 (the screen 911 in an OFF state). In thecase of the screen 911 in the OFF state, although a display panel and/ora touch sensor included in the (touchscreen) display 910 may not besupplied with power, a pressure sensor included in the (touchscreen)display 910 may be supplied with power. Accordingly, the pressure sensormay be normally operated even if the screen 911 is in the OFF state.

For example, the electronic device 901 may receive a force touch 9 toany area of the display 910. When the force touch 9 is made on thedisplay 910, the electronic device 901 may activate a fingerprint sensorbased on the pressure of the force touch 9. The fingerprint of a finger,which makes the force touch 9, may be detected by the activatedfingerprint sensor. The electronic device 901 may compare the detectedfingerprint with the registered fingerprint stored in the memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 901 switches the state of the display910 to an ON state, and a home screen 912, which is unlocked, may beoutput to the display 910 (one example of the first function).

Alternatively, when the fingerprint is successfully verified on thescreen 911 which is in the OFF state, the electronic device 901 mayswitch the state of the display 910 to the ON state, and a screen 913including specified information may be output to the display 910 (oneexample of the first function). For example, the screen 913 includinginformation, which is specified in advance, may include information ontime, a location, weather, schedule, and the like.

Alternatively, when the detected fingerprint is not matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint fails to be verified),the electronic device 901 may continuously output the screen 911 whichis in the OFF state (one example of the second function). According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, when the fingerprintfails to be verified, the electronic device 901 may temporarily output awarning that the detected fingerprint is not matched with the registeredfingerprint. The warning is not limited to the above example, but may bevariously formed. In other words, the electronic device 901 may output anotice that a limited function may be performed, a notice of requiringanother security authentication means (e.g., a password and the like),or a notice of recommending the re-input of a fingerprint.

FIG. 10 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to anapplication, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1011 including a plurality of applicationicons 1021 to 1025 may be output to a (touchscreen) display 1010 of anelectronic device 1001. Although FIG. 10 illustrates only icons, variousgraphic user interface (GUI) objects associated with an application suchas a widget may be output on the home screen 1011. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device 1001 maycorrespond to the electronic device 601 of FIGS. 6A and 6B.

For example, the electronic device 1001 may detect the input of a forcetouch 10 to a position, to which a fifth application icon 1025 isoutput, on the (touchscreen) display 1010. For example, when the forcetouch 10 is made on the display 1010, the electronic device 1001 mayactivate a fingerprint sensor based on the pressure of the force touch.The electronic device 1001 may detect the fingerprint of the finger,which makes the force touch 10, using the activated fingerprint sensor.The electronic device 1001 may compare the detected fingerprint with theregistered fingerprint stored in the memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1001 may withdraw a security policy setby the fifth application, and may output screen “A” 1012 in which thesecurity policy is withdrawn (one example of a first function). In otherwords, when the fingerprint is successfully verified, the electronicdevice 1001 may output the screen “A” 1012 to be executed as thesecurity policy set by the fifth application is withdrawn (which may becalled a “secret mode”).

For example, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1001 may maintain the security policy set by the fifthapplication, and may output screen “B” 1013 in which the security policyis maintained (one example of a second function). In other words, whenthe fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronic device 1001 mayoutput the screen “B” 1013 executed based on the application of thesecurity policy set by the fifth application (which is called “normalmode”).

FIG. 11 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to animage viewer application, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1111 including a plurality of applicationicons may be output to a (touchscreen) display 1110 of an electronicdevice 1101.

For example, the electronic device 1101 may receive a force touch 11 toa position, to which an icon 1121 of the image viewer application isoutput, on the (touchscreen) display 1010. When the force touch 11 ismade on the display 1110, the electronic device 1101 may activate afingerprint sensor based on pressure of the force touch 11. Theelectronic device 1101 may detect the fingerprint of the finger, whichmakes the force touch 11, using the activated fingerprint sensor. Theelectronic device 1101 may compare the detected fingerprint with aregistered fingerprint stored in a memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1101 may withdraw a security policy setby the image view application, and may output a screen 1112 in which thesecurity policy is withdrawn (one example of a first function). Forexample, the electronic device 1101 may display not only a plurality ofimages 1131, to which a security policy set by a user in advance isapplied, but also images 1132, 1133, 1134, and 1135, to which thesecurity policy is not applied, on the screen 1112. In other words, abadge in the shape of a released lock may be added to the images 1131 torepresent that the security policy is set to the images 1131 (which maybe called a “secret mode”).

Alternatively, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1101 maintains a security policy set by the image viewerapplication, and may output a screen 1113 in which the security policyis maintained (one example of a second function). For example,differently from the screen 1112, the images 1131, to which the securitypolicy is set, are not displayed on the screen 113, but only images1132, 1133, 1134, and 1135, to which the security policy is not applied,are displayed on the screen 113 (which is “normal mode”).

According to the description with reference to FIG. 11, the images 1131,to which the security policy is set, are not displayed on the display1110 when the fingerprint fails to be verified. However, this disclosureis not limited thereto. According to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the images 1131,to which the security policy is set, may be displayed with downscaledresolution, at least a portion of the images 1131 may not be displayed,or the images 1131 may be processed and displayed with mosaics.

FIG. 12 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to aninstant message (IM) application, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1211 including a plurality of applicationicons may be output to a (touchscreen) display 1210 of an electronicdevice 1201.

For example, the electronic device 1201 may receive a force touch 12made on a position, to which an IM application icon 1221 is output, onthe (touchscreen) display 1210. When the force touch 12 is made on thedisplay 1210, the electronic device 1201 may activate a fingerprintsensor based on pressure of the force touch 21. The electronic device1201 may detect the fingerprint of the finger, which makes the forcetouch 12, using the activated fingerprint sensor. The electronic device1201 may compare the detected fingerprint with a registered fingerprintstored in a memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1201 may withdraw a security policy setby the IM application, and may output a screen 1212 in which thesecurity policy is withdrawn (one example of a first function). Forexample, the electronic device 1201 may display a chat window object1234, to which a security policy set by a user in advance is applied,and chat window objects 1231, 1232, 1233, and 1235, to which thesecurity policy is not applied, on the screen 1212 (which may be calleda “secret mode”).

Alternatively, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1201 maintains the security policy set by the IM application, andmay output a screen 1213 in which the security policy is maintained (oneexample of a second function). For example, differently from the screen1212, the chat window object 1234, to which the security policy is set,is not displayed on the screen 1213, but only chat window objects 1231,1232, 1233, 1235 and 1236, to which the security policy is not applied,may be displayed on the screen 1213 (which is “normal mode”).

FIG. 13 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to afinancial application according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 13, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1311 including a plurality of applicationicons may be output to a (touchscreen) display 1310 of an electronicdevice 1301.

For example, the electronic device 1301 may receive a force touch 13made on a position, to which an icon 1321 of a financial application(e.g., internet banking application) is output, on the (touchscreen)display 1310. When the force touch 13 is made on the display 1310, theelectronic device 1301 may activate a fingerprint sensor based onpressure of the force touch 13. The electronic device 1310 may detectthe fingerprint of the finger, which makes the force touch 13, using theactivated fingerprint sensor. The electronic device 1301 may compare thedetected fingerprint with a registered fingerprint stored in a memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1301 may withdraw a security policy setby the financial application, and may output a screen 1312 in which thesecurity policy is withdrawn (one example of a first function). Forexample, the screen 1312 may include menu objects in which a securitypolicy is set in advance by a financial institution. As the menu objectsincluded in the screen 1312 are selected, a user may inquire accountinformation held by the user, or may transfer money on line.

Alternatively, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1301 maintains the security policy set by the financialapplication, and may output a screen 1313 in which the security policyis maintained (one example of a second function). For example,differently from the screen 1312, the screen 1313, may be displayed withthe security policy (further requirement of authentication) set. Forexample, the screen 1313 may be displayed with the request for anidentifier (ID) and a password, and a user may use the financialapplication by inputting an ID and a password of the user into thescreen 1313. For example, when the user inputs the ID and the passwordinto the screen 1313, and the user logs in, the screen 1312 may beoutput.

FIG. 14 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to apayment application according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 14, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1411 including a plurality of applicationicons may be output to a (touchscreen) display 1410 of an electronicdevice 1401.

For example, the electronic device 1401 may receive a touch swipe 14-1,which is performed inward from a lower end of the home screen 1411, froma user. As the payment application (e.g., Samsung Pay) is executed bythe touch swipe 14-1, a graphic user interface (GUI) object 1420 may bedisplayed on the lower end of the home screen 1411.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, referring toa screen 1412, subsequently to the touch swipe 14-1, a touch swipe 14-2may be performed with respect to the GUI object 1420. In this case, theuser's finger (e.g., thumb finger) may not be separated from the display1410 while the touch swipe 14-2 is performed. The GUI object 1420 may bedisposed at the center of the screen 1412 through the touch swipe 14-2.

When the GUI object 1420 is disposed at the center of the screen 1412, aforce touch 14-3 may be instantly made by the finger which has performedthe touch swipe 14-2. When the force touch 14-3 is made on the display1410, the electronic device 1401 may activate a fingerprint sensor basedon the pressure of the force touch 14-3. The fingerprint of the finger,which has performed the force touch 14-3, may be detected by theactivated fingerprint sensor. The electronic device 1401 may compare thedetected fingerprint with a registered fingerprint stored in a memory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1401 may withdraw a security policy setby the payment application (one example of a first function). Forexample, referring to a screen 1414, the electronic device 1401 maywithdraw the security policy and may operate a near field communication(NFC) module or a magnetic strip transmission (MST) module embedded inthe electronic device 1401. The NFC module or the MST module maygenerate a magnetic field or an electro-magnetic field to transmitpayment information (e.g., a credit card number or the like) to anotherelectronic device (e.g., a point of sale (POS) device of a credit cardmember store).

Alternatively, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1401 may maintain the security policy set by the paymentapplication, and may output a screen 1413 in which the security policyis maintained (one example of a second function). For example, theelectronic device 1401 may temporarily output the screen 1413 with awarning that the detected fingerprint is not matched with the registeredfingerprint, a notice of further requiring authentication, or a noticeof causing a user to verify the fingerprint.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the touchswipes 14-1 and 14-2 may be skipped. For example, an area for theexecution of the payment application may be specified in a lower endportion (soft keys at lower ends of the display 1410 and the housing) ofthe electronic device 1401 in advance. When the force touch is made tothe area specified in advance, the electronic device 1401 may verify afingerprint. When the fingerprint is successfully verified, theelectronic device 1401 may withdraw the security policy and may operatethe NFC module or the MST module embedded in the electronic device 1401such that the payment is achieved. In addition, for example, even if aforce touch is made to an icon of the payment application included inthe home screen 1411, the payment may be achieved in a similar manner.

FIG. 15 illustrates a fingerprint verification method applied to astatus bar according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 15, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a home screen 1511 including a status bar 1521 and/or aplurality of application icons may be output to a (touchscreen) display1510 of an electronic device 1501.

For example, the electronic device 1501 may receive a force touch 15-1made to a position, to which the status bar 1521 is output, on the homescreen 1511. Then, a touch swipe 15-2 may be performed subsequently tothe force touch 15-1. Although FIG. 15 illustrates that the touch swipe15-2 is performed downward on the home screen 1511, this disclosure isnot limited to the swipe direction. In other words, the touch swipe 15-2may be performed in various directions, for example, upward, aleft-right direction, or the like, and the directionality of the touchswipe may be applied to a touch move.

For example, when the force touch 15-1 is made on the display 1510, theelectronic device 1501 may activate a fingerprint sensor based on thepressure of the force touch 15-1. The electronic device 1501 may detectthe fingerprint of the finger, which makes the force touch 15-1, usingthe activated fingerprint sensor. The electronic device 1501 may comparethe detected fingerprint with a registered fingerprint stored in amemory.

For example, when the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint (i.e. when the fingerprint is successfullyverified), the electronic device 1501 may withdraw a security policy seton the status bar 1521. In addition, when the touch swipe 15-2 isperformed subsequently to the force touch 15-1, the electronic device1501 may output the screen 1513 in which the security policy iswithdrawn (one example of the first function). For example, aquick-panel may be displayed on the screen 1513, and notificationobjects 1531 and 1532 including detailed content may be displayed on thequick-panel.

Alternatively, when the fingerprint fails to be verified, the electronicdevice 1501 may maintain the security policy set on the status bar 1521.In addition, when the touch swipe 15-2 is performed subsequently to theforce touch 15-1, the electronic device 1501 may output a screen 1514 inwhich the security policy is maintained (one example of a secondfunction). For example, the quick-panel may be displayed on the screen1514, and notification objects 1533 and 1534 including brief content maybe displayed on the quick-panel.

As described above, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device may include a housing including afirst surface facing in a first direction, and a second surface facingin a second direction opposite from the first direction, a touchscreendisplay interposed between the first and second surfaces and exposedthrough the first surface, a pressure sensor interposed between thefirst and second surfaces, in which the pressure sensor is positioned tosense pressure of an external object against the display, a fingerprintsensor interposed between the first and second surfaces and positionedto detect a fingerprint on at least a portion of the display, aprocessor positioned inside the housing and electrically coupled to thedisplay, the pressure sensor, and the fingerprint sensor, and a memorypositioned inside the housing and electrically coupled to the processor,in which the memory stores at least one registered fingerprint. Thememory may store instructions that, when executed, cause the processorto sense pressure of a user's finger against the display using thepressure sensor, upon sensing of the pressure, activate the fingerprintsensor, detect a fingerprint of the finger using the fingerprint sensor,determine whether the detected fingerprint is matched with theregistered fingerprint, and perform a preselected function withoutfurther requiring authentication, when the detected fingerprint ismatched with the registered fingerprint.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theinstructions may further cause the processor to sense the pressure ofthe finger against the display using the pressure sensor while thedisplay is turned off.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theinstructions may further cause the processor to sense the pressure ofthe finger against the display using the pressure sensor while theelectronic device is in a locked state. The preselected function may beunlocking the electronic device.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theinstructions may further cause the processor to sense the pressure ofthe finger against the display using the pressure sensor while thedisplay is turned on.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theinstructions may further cause the processor to execute a function of anapplication without further requiring authentication, when the pressureof the finger is applied to an object of the application output to thedisplay.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice may include a touchscreen display, a pressure sensor positionedto sense pressure applied to the display by a user's finger, afingerprint sensor positioned to detect a fingerprint of the finger, aprocessor electrically coupled to the display, the pressure sensor, andthe fingerprint sensor, and a memory electrically coupled to theprocessor and positioned to store at least one registered fingerprint.The processor may be configured to sense the pressure, which is appliedto the display by the finger, using the pressure sensor, activate thefingerprint sensor when the sensed pressure is equal to or greater thana designated value, detect the fingerprint of the finger using thefingerprint sensor, compare the detected fingerprint with the registeredfingerprint, perform a first function when the detected fingerprint ismatched with the registered fingerprint, and perform a second functiondifferent from the first function when the detected fingerprint is notmatched with the registered fingerprint.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the processormay scan a specified area including a position, to which the pressure isapplied, on the display using the fingerprint sensor, and may detect thefingerprint within the specified area.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the processormay sense the pressure applied to the display using the pressure sensor,while a locked screen is output to the display. The first function mayinclude a function of outputting an unlocked screen to the display, andthe second function may include a function of maintaining the lockedscreen.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the processormay sense the pressure, which is applied to the display, using thepressure sensor, while the display is turned off. The first function mayinclude a function of switching a state of the display to an ON state,and the second function may include a function of maintaining thedisplay in the OFF state.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstfunction may further include a function of outputting an unlocked screento the display.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstfunction may further include a function of outputting a screen includingspecified information to the display.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a position,to which the pressure is applied, on the display, may correspond to aposition, to which an object associated with a specified application isoutput, on the display. The first function may include a function ofwithdrawing a security policy set by the specified application, and thesecond function may include a function of maintaining the securitypolicy set by the specified application.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstfunction may further include a function of outputting a screen, in whichthe security policy is withdrawn, to the display, and the secondfunction further includes a function of outputting a screen, in whichthe security policy is maintained, to the display.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the specifiedapplication may include at least a payment application, a financialapplication, or an image viewer application.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a fingerprintverification method of an electronic device may include sensing pressureof a user's finger against a touchscreen display, activating afingerprint sensor upon sensing of the pressure, detecting a fingerprintof the finger using the fingerprint sensor, determining whether thedetected fingerprint is matched with a registered fingerprint stored inthe electronic device, and performing a preselected function withoutfurther requiring authentication, when the detected fingerprint ismatched with the registered fingerprint.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure of the finger may be performed while the display isturned off.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure of the finger may be performed while the electronicdevice is in a locked state, and the preselected function may correspondto a function of unlocking the locked state.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure of the finger may be performed while the display isturned on.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure of the finger may include sensing pressure applied to anobject of an application output to the display, and the performing ofthe preselected function may include executing a function of theapplication without further requiring the authentication.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a fingerprintverification method of an electronic device may include sensingpressure, which is applied to a touchscreen display by a user's finger,using a pressure sensor, activating a fingerprint sensor when the sensedpressure is equal to or greater than a designated value, detecting afingerprint of the finger using the fingerprint sensor, comparing thedetected fingerprint with a registered fingerprint stored in a memory,performing a first function when the detected fingerprint is matchedwith the registered fingerprint, and performing a second functiondifferent from the first function when the detected fingerprint is notmatched with the registered fingerprint.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the detectingof the fingerprint may include scanning a specified area around aposition, to which the pressure is applied, on the display and detectingthe fingerprint within the specified area.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure may be performed while a locked screen is output to thedisplay. The first function may include a function of outputting anunlocked screen to the display, and the second function may include afunction of maintaining the locked screen.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the sensingof the pressure may be performed while the display is turned off. Thefirst function may include a function of switching a state of thedisplay to an ON state, and the second function may include a functionof maintaining the display in an OFF state.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstfunction may further include a function of outputting an unlocked screento the display.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a position,to which the pressure is applied, on the display, may correspond to aposition, to which an object associated with a specified application isoutput, on the display. The first function may include a function ofwithdrawing a security policy set by the specified application. Thesecond function may include a function of maintaining the securitypolicy set by the specified application.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstfunction may further include a function of outputting a screen, in whichthe security policy is withdrawn, to the display, and the secondfunction may further include a function of outputting a screen, in whichthe security policy is maintained, to the display.

The term “module” used in this disclosure may represent, for example, aunit including one or more combinations of hardware, software andfirmware. The term “module” may be interchangeably used with the terms“unit”, “logic”, “logical block”, “component” and “circuit”. The“module” may be a minimum unit of an integrated component or may be apart thereof. The “module” may be a minimum unit for performing one ormore functions or a part thereof. The “module” may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, the “module” may include atleast one of an application-specific IC (ASIC) chip, afield-programmable gate array (FPGA), and a programmable-logic devicefor performing some operations, which are known or will be developed.

At least a part of an apparatus (e.g., modules or functions thereof) ora method (e.g., operations) according to various embodiments may be, forexample, implemented by instructions stored in a computer-readablestorage media in the form of a program module. The instruction, whenexecuted by a processor (e.g., the processor 120 of FIG. 1), may causethe one or more processors to perform a function corresponding to theinstruction. The computer-readable storage media, for example, may bethe memory 130 of FIG. 1.

A computer-readable recording medium may include a hard disk, a floppydisk, a magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), an optical media (e.g.,a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and a digital versatile disc(DVD), a magneto-optical media (e.g., a floptical disk)), and hardwaredevices (e.g., a read only memory (ROM), a random-access memory (RAM),or a flash memory). Also, a program instruction may include not only amechanical code such as things generated by a compiler but also ahigh-level language code executable on a computer using an interpreter.The above hardware unit may be configured to operate via one or moresoftware modules for performing an operation according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, and vice versa.

A module or a program module according to various embodiments mayinclude at least one of the above elements, or a part of the aboveelements may be omitted, or additional other elements may be furtherincluded. Operations performed by a module, a program module, or otherelements according to various embodiments may be executed sequentially,in parallel, repeatedly, or in a heuristic method. In addition, someoperations may be executed in different sequences or may be omitted.Alternatively, other operations may be added.

According to various embodiments disclosed in this disclosure, when thepressure sensor detects a touch having a designated pressure value ormore, a user may activate the fingerprint sensor and may authenticatethe fingerprint of a finger which makes the touch. Accordingly, variousexisting manipulation processes, which have been performed to verify thefingerprint, may be reduced. In addition, various effects may bedirectly or indirectly ascertained through this disclosure.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable communication device comprising: atouchscreen display; a fingerprint sensor disposed below the touchscreendisplay; a pressure sensor disposed below the touchscreen display; amemory to store a plurality of registered fingerprint information; and aprocessor configured to: while the portable communication device is inan unlocked state and an application to which a security policy isapplied is in a locked state, acquire, using the pressure sensor,pressure information corresponding to an external object in contact withan area of the touchscreen display, while the unlocked state of theportable communication device is maintained and the locked state of theapplication is maintained, obtain, using the fingerprint sensor,fingerprint information corresponding to the external object based atleast in part on a determination that the pressure information satisfiesa specified condition of pressure, determine whether the obtainedfingerprint information corresponds to at least one registeredfingerprint information of the plurality of registered fingerprintinformation, transition the application from the locked state to anunlock state, based at least in part on a determination that theobtained fingerprint information corresponds to the at least oneregistered fingerprint information, the transitioning of the applicationincluding displaying an execution screen corresponding to theapplication via the touchscreen display, and maintain the locked stateof the application based at least in part on a determination that theobtained fingerprint information does not correspond to the at least oneregistered fingerprint information.
 2. The portable communication deviceof claim 1, wherein the processor is adapted to: display an icon to beused to obtain the fingerprint information in the area of thetouchscreen display, receive, via the touchscreen display, a touch inputwith respect to the icon, and detect, using the pressure sensor, anintensity of pressure corresponding to the touch input, as at least partof the pressure information.
 3. The portable communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the pressure sensor includes a first electrode, asecond electrode, and a dielectric layer disposed between the firstelectrode and the second electrode, and wherein the processor is adaptedto: perform the acquiring of the pressure information based at least inpart on a capacitance between the first electrode and the secondelectrode.
 4. The portable communication device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is adapted to: activate the fingerprint sensor based at leastin part on the determination that the pressure information satisfies thespecified condition of pressure.
 5. The portable communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the fingerprint sensor includes an optical fingerprintsensor, and wherein the processor is adapted to: perform, using theoptical fingerprint sensor, the obtaining of the fingerprint informationbased at least in part on light reflected by the external object.
 6. Theportable communication device of claim 1, wherein the memory adapted toa plurality of applications, and wherein the processor is adapted to:select at least one application from the plurality of applications asthe application to which the security policy is applied, based at leastin part on a user selection.
 7. The portable communication device ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is adapted to: as part of the maintainingof the locked state of the application, display an user interface torequest another authentication information having a type different fromthat of the fingerprint information.
 8. The portable communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is adapted to: as part of themaintaining of the locked state of the application, display anotherexecution screen corresponding to the application via the touchscreendisplay, the displaying of the other execution screen including hidingspecified part of information to be displayed in the execution screen.9. A portable communication device comprising: a touchscreen display; asensor module disposed below the touchscreen display, adapted to detecta plurality of information corresponding to an external object inproximity of or in contact with the touchscreen display, and including apressure sensing portion corresponding to pressure information of theplurality of information and a fingerprint sensing portion correspondingto fingerprint information of the plurality of information; a memory tostore a plurality of registered fingerprint information; and a processoradapted to: obtain the pressure information using the pressure sensingportion of the sensor module, obtain, using the fingerprint sensingportion of the sensor module, the fingerprint information based at leastin part on a determination that the pressure information satisfies aspecified condition of pressure, determine whether the obtainedfingerprint information corresponds to at least one registeredfingerprint information of the plurality of registered fingerprintinformation, and perform a specified function based at least in part ona determination that obtained the fingerprint information corresponds tothe at least one registered fingerprint information.
 10. The portablecommunication device of claim 9, wherein the processor is adapted to:perform the obtaining of the pressure while the touchscreen display isinactive state.
 11. The portable communication device of claim 9,wherein the processor is adapted to: display an icon to be used toobtain the fingerprint information in an area of the touchscreendisplay, receive, via the touchscreen display, a touch input withrespect to the icon, and detect, using the pressure sensor, an intensityof pressure corresponding to the touch input, as at least part of thepressure information.
 12. The portable communication device of claim 9,wherein the pressure sensing portion includes a first electrode, asecond electrode, and a dielectric layer disposed between the firstelectrode and the second electrode, and wherein the processor is adaptedto: perform the obtaining of the pressure information based at least inpart on a capacitance between the first electrode and the secondelectrode.
 13. The portable communication device of claim 9, wherein thefingerprint sensing portion includes an optical fingerprint sensor, andwherein the processor is adapted to: perform, using the opticalfingerprint sensor, the obtaining of the fingerprint information basedat least in part on light reflected by the external object.
 14. Theportable communication device of claim 9, wherein the processor isadapted to: activate the fingerprint sensor portion based at least inpart on the determination that the pressure information satisfies thespecified condition of pressure.
 15. The portable communication deviceof claim 9, wherein the processor is adapted to: transition a screen ofthe touchscreen display from lock screen to home screen based at leastin part on the determination that obtained the fingerprint informationcorresponds to the at least one registered fingerprint information. 16.The portable communication device of claim 9, wherein the processor isadapted to: transition the application from the locked state to anunlock state, based at least in part on the determination that theobtained fingerprint information corresponds to the at least oneregistered fingerprint information as part of the specified function,the transitioning of the application including displaying an executionscreen corresponding to the application via the touchscreen display. 17.The portable communication device of claim 16, wherein the processor isadapted to: maintain the locked state of the application based at leastin part on a determination that the obtained fingerprint informationdoes not correspond to the at least one registered fingerprintinformation.
 18. A non-transitory machine-readable storage devicestoring instructions that, when executed by one or more processors,cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: whilethe portable communication device is in an unlocked state and anapplication to which a security policy is applied is in a locked state,acquiring pressure information corresponding to an external object incontact with an area of a touchscreen display operatively coupled withthe one or more processors; while the unlocked state of the portablecommunication device is maintained and the locked state of theapplication is maintained, obtaining, using a fingerprint sensor beingdisposed below the touchscreen display and operatively coupled with theone or more processors, fingerprint information corresponding to theexternal object based at least in part on a determination that thepressure information satisfies a specified condition of pressure;determining whether the obtained fingerprint information corresponds toat least one registered fingerprint information of the plurality ofregistered fingerprint information; transitioning the application fromthe locked state to an unlock state, based at least in part on adetermination that the obtained fingerprint information corresponds tothe at least one registered fingerprint information, the transitioningof the application including displaying an execution screencorresponding to the application via the touchscreen display; andmaintaining the locked state of the application based at least in parton a determination that the obtained fingerprint information does notcorrespond to the at least one registered fingerprint information. 19.The non-transitory machine-readable storage device of claim 18, whereinthe obtaining of the fingerprint information further comprises:activating the fingerprint sensor based at least in part on thedetermination that the pressure information satisfies the specifiedcondition of pressure.
 20. The non-transitory machine-readable storagedevice of claim 18, wherein the maintaining of the locked state of theapplication further comprises: displaying an user interface to requestanother authentication information having a type different from that ofthe fingerprint information.